Course: The Theory Behind Electronics - A Beginners Guide

The Theory Behind Electronics - A Beginners Guide

Life Time Access

Certificate on Completion

Access on Android and iOS App

About this Course

Electricity is all around us, it is some hidden energy force driving many applications we all use in our daily life. The theory behind electricity is based on some amazing phenomenon in nature and some several materials properties that were discovered by great scientists. Electronics is a theory developed around the useful applications of electricity. So the first thing that we can say about electricity is that it is a really interesting subject!

Today, electronic is becoming muchmore friendly hobby for many people worldwide that would like to easily combine hardware and software and do things by themselves, the prices of electric components are dropping, easy to use development platforms were created (e.g. Arduino) and it is very easy to collaborate and learn the subject in a few mouse clicks.

The Internet of Things is also an emerging driving force for innovators looking to build thingsusing electronics and harness the power horse of the web technologies to create new products, services or just cool projects!

This course is a starting point, to learn the basic building blocks of electronics with step by step education program, easy to follow chapters, simple circuits’ demonstrations, quizzes to evaluate your understanding and review the key things to remember using a mind mapping templates.

Join me with one of the biggest Makers Movement!

Basic knowledge

This course is meant for newbies in electricity and electronics

All kind of Do-It-Yourself Makers

Arduino developers looking for more solid background

Internet of Things entrepreneurs

Students looking for a quick refresher on basic electronics theory

What you will learn

Understand the R,L, C building blocks of analog electronics

Calculate Voltage, Current and Power and understand the relation between them

Understand the properties of DC and AC power supply

Understand the applications of Resistors, Capacitors, Inductors, Diodes and Transistors

Analyze basic electronic circuit

Select the right components in future project

Build simple projects in a Circuit Simulator

Document circuits is a software tool

Develop ideas and summarize knowledge using mind mapping software

Curriculum

Number of Lectures: 60

Total Duration: 03:42:42

Setup

2 lectures

05:21

Course Introduction

03:33

Starting with a short course introduction on Why ? What ? How ? Who ?....

Software Setup

01:47

We will quickly review the needed software tools (desktop and web-based) that will be used during this course. All of them are optional and you can run the all course without them BUT I strongly recommend to start using them... it is FUN !

Current, Voltage and Power - Starting with the basics !

6 lectures

27:33

Introduction - Current, Voltage, Power

01:07

Starting our journey with a basic definition of Current, Voltage and Power.

Atoms and Electric Charge (OMG?!)

05:57

Atoms (OMG!) are the building blocks of materials around use, Electric Charge is the amazing property of electrons and protons inside each atoms. Did you know that electric charge is holding the all universe from falling parts...... I am not kidding....

OK, but what is the relation to Current ?

Electric Current

04:38

Current is the organized flow of free electrons in a closed loop, measured in Amperes. Current can be translated to other forms of energy like heat or light, making electric circuits extremely useful for end-less applications.

Voltage

03:56

Voltage is the potential electric motive force pushing the electrons in one direction, measured in volts.﻿

As said by Bob Marley, "No Women No Cry...." --> in our case No Voltage No Current....

Power

07:14

Power is the rate of energy being consumed in specific component and it is based on the amount of voltage drop and current flowing in that component. Power is measured using watts. To measure power consumption we need to add the time scale so in that case, power consumption is measured using Watts-Hours. In addition, to measure the energy capacity of some limited energy source like a battery we use Amperes-Hours.

To create voltage potential we need a power source, such a power source can be based on direct current or alternate current. But really, what's the different between them ? why do we need this AC power source if most of the things around us are working on DC ?

Direct Current (DC)

02:13

Direct Current is current that travels in one direction only, it is unidirectional with constant polarity. DC is very common method to operate low power digital circuit and devices so we will find it in almost electric circuit.

Alternate Current (AC)

03:30

Alternating Current is a type of power source that causes current to periodically change direction. AC today is the most common method to deliver electricity for long distance. The frequency of changing direction is measured in Hertz.

The War of Currents

03:29

AC today is the most common method to deliver electricity for long distances. But Why ?

AC Wave-forms

01:38

AC waveform is defined by frequency, amplitude and phase.

AC Socket - Hot, Neutral, and Ground

03:51

It is TIME to understand the AC socket in our house, what is Hot, Neutral and the Ground wires ?

Measuring Power and Voltage in AC

02:49

To easily handle voltage, current and power in AC we used RMS (Root Mean Square ) values.

Resistance, Capacitance, Inductance are the building blocks of almost any electric component, device or a circuit. We will find them everywhere...

What is Capacitance ?

00:47

Capacitance is a property of a body for storing energy in electric field, measured in farad.

OK great, but for what ?

Capacitors

01:19

Capacitors devices are used to store and release electric energy.

Charge and Discharge

05:25

Capacitors are charged and discharged in an exponential pattern (don't run away please...). So how can we calculate the specific TIME they will be charged/discharged ? what are the applications of capacitors ?

RC - Time Constant

03:55

Time constant is the easiest parameter to handle capacitors charging and discharging time.

Types of Capacitors

06:26

There are all sorts of capacitor types out there, each with certain features and drawbacks which make it better for some applications than others.

Applications

09:36

Capacitors are widely used as parts of electrical circuits:

Blocking direct current while allowing alternating current to pass

Smooth current fluctuations for signal or control circuits

Filter specific frequencies (e.g. radio)

Generate signal waves used for timing

And more….so commonly used that in almost every circuit we will find them pushing their big nose...

Resistance, Capacitance, Inductance are the building blocks of almost any electric component, device or a circuit. We will find them everywhere...

Electromagnetism - almost like magic...

03:40

Electromagnetism = Electro + Magnetism

Magnets?!? , what are you talking about ?

Not easy but really interesting stuff !

Steady Current and Coiled Wire

04:19

Based on Electromagnetism, we can create magnetic field using current ? did you ever created Electromagnet as a kid ?

Time Varying Current

01:58

What will happen when a current connected to a circuit with a wire coil, will vary on the time scale, like using AC signal as input ?

Self-Inductance

02:07

Self-inductance is how inductors store energy in magnetic field.

Inductance and Inductors

01:45

Inductance is a property of an electrical conductor by which a change in current flowing through it induces an electromotive force. Inductance is measured in Henry.

RL - Time Constant

02:55

In the preceding sections, we learned how to calculate the RC time constant for a resistor-capacitor circuit. A similar calculation can be done for inductors, except that instead of calling it the RC time constant, we call it the RL time constant. But the Idea is almost the same.

Mutual-Inductance

04:57

Time-varying magnetic field (flux) induces an electromotive force in nearby conductors. The induced force is called Electromotive Force (EMF). A device specifically designed to produce the effect of mutual inductance between two or more coils is called a transformer. All our AC to DC converters are working based on this effect.

Transformer

01:02

Transformers, Electric Motor and AC Generator are based on the principle of inductance.

AC Generator and Electric Motor

02:56

Transformers, Electric Motor and AC Generator are based on the principle of inductance.

Circuit Simulation - Self-Inductance with Inductors

05:27

Let's see some simple example of Self-Inductance.

p.s. the circuit simulator is not smart enough to present mutual inductance....

Semi-conductors are the most important step in moving to digital electronics, as they are the building blocks for other more complicated components.

What is Semi-Conductor ?

04:03

Materials are classified by their ability to conduct electricity. Substances that easily pass an electric current, are referred to as conductors. Materials that have a difficult time passing an electric current are called insulators. A third category of material whose conductivity lies between those of conductors

and insulators. This third category of material is referred to as a semiconductor.

Diode

02:26

Diode is simple application of Semi-Conductors while fusing together N-type and P-type semiconductor materials. Diode are basically a one way gate for current.

Transistor

08:20

A transistor is like a diode with a additional third layer of either p-type or n-type semiconductors on one end. Two common types of transistors – PNP and NPN. Transistors are used to amplify electrical power or switch electronic signals.

Circuit Simulation - Transistor as Digital Switch

05:41

First application of transistor is just as simple controlled SWITCH.

Circuit Simulation - Transistor as Digital Logic

02:59

Next applications is to create a digital logic gate ! all the chips the you see everywhere are based on such applications, just they are very, very, very small created during the chip production process.

Circuit Simulation - Transistor as Current Amplifier

02:32

Give me some more power please... that's another useful application of transistor, to amplify signals.

Ohm’s Law and Kirchhoff's Laws are the basic laws of electric circuits helping to perform simple to complex circuit analysis.

Circuit Topology

03:59

We first defined some basic circuit topology – branch, node and loop and how to combine components in series and in parallel.

R,L,C in Series and Parallel

05:07

R, L, C components are commonly places in series and in parallel. Why ? many reasons and one of them is to create variety of values that we can't find off-the-shelf in the store.

Ohm’s Law - V, I, R

04:38

Ohm’s Law is used to define the relation between Voltage, Current and Resistance. The electrical current (I) flowing through a fixed linear resistance is directly proportional to the Voltage applied across it (V).

Kirchhoff’s Laws - Junction (KCL)

03:25

KCL also called the junction rule saying that at any node (junction) in an electrical circuit, the sum of currents flowing into that node is equal to the sum of currents flowing out of that node.

Kirchhoff’s Laws - Closed Loop (KVL)

04:10

KVL also called the closed loop rule saying that the algebraic sum of the voltages around any loop of a circuit is zero meaning the amount generated equal to the amount used.

Simpliv LLC, a platform for learning and teaching online courses. We focus on online learning which helps to learn business concepts, software technology to develop personal and professional goals through video library by recognized industry experts.